The Atlantic’s In Focus Coup d’etat

byJames FurbushonJanuary 19, 2011

The Atlantic continue to demonstrate it is so far ahead of other media companies when it comes to carving out their publication in the digital space. To wit: they’ve poached Alan Taylor away from The Boston Globe and his baby, The Big Picture, to run the photoblog In Focus.

Taylor started The Big Picture at the Globe two and a half years ago. He ran the site in his spare time, posting content when he could. The site was an instant hit, winning awards and buzz on its way to generating “eight million page views per month out of nothing,” according to Jason Kottke, and causing other media companies to roll out their own large photo blogs. That the Globe didn’t allow Taylor to work on The Big Picture full-time is stupid.